A Guide to Writing Better Pirates of the Caribbean OCs
by BetweenSunAndMoon
Summary: Do you want to create a PotC OC, but worry you'll accidentally make her a Mary Sue? Have you written a Mary Sue and want to redeem her? Do you feel like your character just doesn't have enough depth? This guide is for you!
1. Introduction, Name, and Appearance

Ahoy, mates! If you're reading this, you probably want to make a _Pirates of the Caribbean_ OC who's not a Mary Sue. Or you've written a Mary Sue and want to learn how to fix her. Or you're just bored and had nothing else to do. In any case, welcome to this guide, and I hope you find it helpful!

Let's get started. Our first lesson will be on something that, because of its tendency to show up in summaries, can alert readers to the possible presence of a Mary Sue before they even click on the fic: the character's name.

 **Naming Your Character**

Pirates of the Caribbean takes place sometime around the year 1730. Despite the very-clearly-not-modern setting, Mary Sue names tend to be made up, anachronistic, culture-confused, or just plain ridiculous.

Your character's name should not be any of the following:

Your real name or your username.

A name you made up. At best, these look silly; at worst, they're unpronounceable.

A name no one in the early 18th century would give to their daughter, or any of their children, period. (Some of our modern female names, such as Courtney, Lindsay, and Vivian, were male names back then.) If you are unsure about the history of a name, I recommend looking it up on sites like Behind the Name, Nameberry, or Think Baby Names.

The name of a gemstone.

The name of a bird or an animal.

A nature-related name.

A weather-related name.

A foreign name. If she's English, give her an English name. If she's French, give her a French name. If she's Spanish, give her a Spanish name. You get the picture.

A "special" version of an existing name, such as Cathrynne for Katherine.

* * *

"Okay," I hear you asking, "so what _should_ I name my character?"

Don't worry. Remember that Google is your friend and can provide you with plenty of lovely period-appropriate names. These include but are not limited to:

Agnes

Amelia

Ann or Anne

Barbara

Beatrice

Berenice

Catherine or Katherine

Cecelia, Cecilia, or Cecily

Charlotte

Deborah

Diana

Dorothea or Dorothy

Eleanor

Elizabeth

Esther

Faith

Felicity

Frances

Gillian

Grace

Hannah

Helen

Hope

Isabel

Jane or Janet

Joan

Judith

Lillian

Lucy

Lydia

Margaret

Martha

Mary

Naomi

Phyllis

Priscilla

Prudence

Rebecca

Rosamond or Rosamund

Ruth

Sarah

Sophia

Susan, Susanna, or Susannah

Tabitha

Ursula

Verity

Winifred

With so many names out there, you're sure to find one you like.

Now that you've picked out a name, we can move on to the first thing people notice about your character, even before they learn her name: her appearance.

 **Describing Your Character**

Another warning sign of a Mary Sue is the author describing her appearance in excessive and poetic detail. She is always ravishingly beautiful, never merely pretty, average-looking, or ugly. (The horror!) She is frequently the most beautiful woman [insert name here] has ever seen. Oh, who am I kidding? She's the most beautiful woman _anyone_ has ever seen, even if she doesn't think so at first.

Now that you've learned what not to do, here are some more things not to do!

Don't describe your character's hair as raven, golden, fiery, chocolate, or any such nonsense. Just plain black, blonde, red, or brown is fine. Her hair will not be shiny or sweet-smelling. No one had hair care products in those days. Unless your character is a whore, she will not wear her hair loose. And unless she has access to a hairbrush, her hair will be tangled.

Don't give your character an eye color not found in nature, such as purple, golden, or silver. Don't compare her eyes to gemstones, the sky, the ocean, storm clouds, or chocolate. Green, blue, blue-green, blue-gray, gray, and brown are perfectly good eye colors that need nothing added. And don't give your character multi-colored or color-changing eyes, either. Hazel is also a perfectly good eye color.

Don't make your character's skin shimmer. No one's skin shimmers in real life. Give her normal skin instead of perfectly soft and smooth skin. There were no skin care products back then. If she has pale skin, don't describe it as alabaster, ivory, or porcelain. She will also likely get sunburned easily. She will probably not have a tan unless she works outside in the sun for long periods of time. (Tanned skin was actually considered unattractive in the 18th century.) Or maybe the above is irrelevant, because she isn't white. I will give you many, many points for making a non-white OC so long as she's not a racial/cultural stereotype.

That concludes the first chapter. Inspiration for this guide came from the heave_ho LJ community, The Many Faces of Mary Sue (can be found here at story ID 2480068), and my own encounters with poorly-written OCs. Comments and suggestions are welcome, and I hope to see you all soon.


	2. Occupation

Welcome back! In this chapter, we'll look at some of the jobs your OC could have. This is not meant to be in-depth, only to get you started and help you avoid basic errors. Research is a good thing and can be enjoyable, even though Mary Sues hate it for some reason.

 **Pirate**

Piracy involves robbing, torturing, and murdering people for a living, along with all the daily tasks that keep a ship afloat, going in the general direction you want it to go, and ready to do battle with other ships. All of those things require muscle. Your character doesn't have to look like a cartoon weightlifter, but she shouldn't be a stick figure, either. She will probably have to use a male alias, since having a woman on your ship was considered bad luck. There were no bathtubs or showers on pirate ships, so she won't be clean. She will have only one outfit. She will wear a shirt and a pair of breeches or trousers, not a dress or a skirt. Anne Bonny and Mary Read had to dress like men, act like men, and pretend to be men for their entire piratical careers. Anything else your character wears is up to you, including whether or not she owns a pair of shoes. Pirates wore whatever they could get their hands on, though the fanciest clothing was usually reserved for the captain.

Speaking of which…I'm not saying your character can never captain her own ship, but since so many Mary Sues are pirate captains, you'd probably be better off making her a member of the crew. Being a captain required leadership, experience, and courage in battle. The average age of pirates was twenty-seven, so a captain would likely be that age or older. Pirate captains were elected, and if a crew didn't like their captain, they could mutiny or hold another election to replace him at any time.

 **Prostitute**

Being a prostitute entails having sex with strangers for money, a variety of STDs, customers who aren't always kind or gentle, the occasional unwanted pregnancy, and being looked down on by society. Your character can be any age you want, might wear a lot of makeup to cover evidence of disease, and usually won't own anything very expensive.

What I'm going to say next is very important, so pay attention.

Being a prostitute does not make someone immoral.

A woman who chooses to become a prostitute is no better or worse a person than a woman who becomes a prostitute out of desperation.

A woman's worth is not measured by the amount of sex she has with people who aren't her One True Love.

Got that? Good.

 **Lady**

A noble or otherwise wealthy woman will have manners. She won't go around being rude to everyone she meets. She will behave herself in polite company, no matter how much she might secretly detest the company in question. She will wear clothing and hairstyles befitting her social class. She won't know how to sword fight or have any other unladylike skills. She won't go anywhere after dark unaccompanied. She won't expect to marry for love.

That doesn't mean she can't ever do anything interesting. It just means you'll have to keep in mind what was and wasn't considered proper behavior for a lady.

 **Barmaid**

A barmaid brings customers their drinks, keeps the place (relatively) clean, and might help cook if the tavern serves food. She will either be used or have to get used to drunken behavior. She will dress simply, which means no fancy clothing or jewelry. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for your character to manage or own her own pub, but make sure she's prepared to handle the responsibilities of running a business.

 **Thief**

Thieves steal things. They don't care whether their victims deserve it. Your character will most likely wear ragged clothing and be skinny from not having enough to eat. She won't be a paragon of cleanliness. She might even be homeless. She can pick pockets, break into houses, take things like food when their owners aren't looking, or all three. She will try to cover her tracks and not call attention to herself. Ending up in a prison cell or on the gallows won't do her any good, after all.

And don't have her steal from the rich and give to the poor. Only Robin Hood can do that, and your OC is not Robin Hood.

 **Maid**

Working in another person's house means doing chores, and lots of them. All but the poorest 18th-century people employed at least one maid to keep the house clean. Rich people with large houses might have other kinds of maids. Chambermaids cleaned the bedrooms, kitchen maids assisted cooks and served food, ladies' maids helped their mistresses get dressed and look presentable, laundry maids did the laundry, nursemaids looked after the children, and scullery maids washed pots and pans. Your character might become a maid in her early teens and work until she marries, usually in her mid-twenties. If she is older and has experience running her own household, she could get a job as a cook or a housekeeper.

 **Time Traveler**

Unless you're writing a parody, do not make your character a time traveler from the 21st century or a fangirl who gets sucked into the movies. I'm serious. Don't do it. Ever. Or I will ask Davy Jones to feed your OC to the kraken.


	3. The Essence of a Mary Sue

Before we proceed any further, let's take a moment to examine what a Mary Sue really is. A Mary Sue is what happens when the author of a story mistakenly believes that making a character special automatically makes them interesting, likable, and relatable. Mary Sues are often their authors' idealized versions of themselves. Mary Sues demand admiration and respect from their readers, despite not having any traits worthy of admiration or respect. And in case you're wondering, Mary Sues do have male counterparts, known as Marty Sams, Marty Stus, or Gary Stus. You don't see them around as much, though.

Just because a character has some Sue-ish traits does not automatically make them a Mary Sue. Someone once said of Sues, "Good characters exist to serve the story. Mary Sues exist to have the story serve them."

 _A Mary Sue is born when an author's love for and/or identification with a fictional character causes the author to set that character above whatever aspects of rules and realism the author finds undesirable. The more that the author exalts this "darling" at the expense of the rest of the story, the more of a Mary Sue the character becomes. Mary Sue is impervious to failure and resistant to all in-story attempts at criticism and humiliation; any attempt at an external critique usually provokes an authorial temper tantrum. With a preference for style over substance, attitude over empathy, and romantic relationships above all others, the Mary Sue is nevertheless a popular character type due to her function as cheap wish-fulfillment._ ~heave_ho's profile on LJ

The PPC Wiki's Mary Sue article lists three essential traits that all Mary Sues have (paraphrased, and with my own examples):

 **One: Mary Sues don** **'** **t react realistically to their situations.**

A Mary Sue who's never been to sea in her life dreams of becoming a pirate, conveniently ignoring that pirates are bloodthirsty criminals. A Mary Sue insists her parents are evil for encouraging her to accept a marriage proposal from a man she doesn't love, even though they're just trying to give her a good and stable future. A Mary Sue who's been captured insults her captors, instead of keeping quiet so as not to anger them. A Mary Sue gets excited once she discovers she's been sent back in time to the 18th century, instead of freaking out and wanting to go home.

 **Two: Other characters don** **'** **t react realistically to Mary Sues.**

In Suefic, Jack allows a young woman with no prior nautical experience to join his crew, Will forgets his love for Elizabeth and runs off with a random girl, and Norrington is so moved by his newest prisoner's beauty and charm that he lets her go. You get the picture.

Characters who like the resident Mary Sue, even when they have no reason to do so, are good. Characters who dislike the Mary Sue, typically for illogical or out-of-character reasons, are either bad or eventually won over. The Mary Sue forces the world to revolve around her. She inspires love or hatred in everyone she meets. No one is ever indifferent to or unimpressed by her.

 **Three: Mary Sues are special just because they exist.**

Mary Sues never have to face consequences for their actions. No matter how cruel or selfish their behavior is, how many canon rules they break, or how much better than the canon characters they are at everything, everyone still loves them and thinks they're the most amazing people ever. Nothing is ever the Mary Sue's fault. She never has to face any real challenges or obstacles, which makes for a boring character, and therefore a boring story.


	4. Backstory and Personality

Raise your hand if you've ever seen any of these in a PotC fanfic:

The character who constantly whines and complains about how horrible her life is, even when she should be focusing on other things.

The allegedly badass character who can't take care of herself, falls to pieces whenever her love interest isn't around, and constantly needs other people to rescue her.

The character with a tragic past whose love interest cures her of any psychological damage.

The character who hates pirates but eventually falls in love with one.

The woman who hates men and thinks anything with a penis is evil, until she meets her love interest.

The pirate captain without a good reason for being captain or going to sea in the first place.

The noblewoman who wants nothing more than to escape her restricted life, run away to sea, and become a pirate.

The barmaid or hooker who spends her days longing for a handsome pirate captain to sweep her off her feet and carry her away to a life of adventure.

They're all cliched, boring, and predictable, right? Right! So don't make your OC one of them. Nobody wants to read something they've already seen a hundred times.

 **Your Character** **'s Backstory**

Backstory is what happened to a character before the story started. Mary Sues tend to have terrible and tragic backstories that provide them with constant sources of angst in the present. If your character has experienced any kind of trauma, make sure she reacts to it realistically and doesn't use it as an excuse for cheap sympathy.

Where is your character from? Who are her family members, and how does she get along with them? Where does she live now, and how did she come to be there? Why does she have the job she has now? Why does she believe what she believes? Has she done anything she's particularly ashamed of or embarrassed about? Why does she behave the way she does?

Whatever the answers to those questions are, don't dump all the backstory on your readers' heads before they've had a chance to get to know your character. Instead, give it to them in bits and pieces. Your readers will appreciate that. And if the information is not necessary for plot or character development, leave it out entirely.

 **Your Character** **'s Personality**

No matter what fandom they're in, Mary Sues all have the exact same personality: rude, self-centered, and whiny. OCs who are neither annoying enough to be actual Mary Sues nor developed enough to be well-written characters tend to be copies or female versions of canon characters. Your character should be her own person, and I mean a _person_ your audience can relate to, instead of a blank slate, an inferior version of a canon character, or an unrealistically perfect avatar they're supposed to admire.

 _Intermission: Some Things You Should Know_

Informed attribute: Something a character supposedly has, but that the audience never sees any evidence of. For example, the supposedly compassionate character who doesn't do anything to help others or stop them from being hurt. "Show, don't tell" is the number-one rule of writing for a reason.

Flaw: A personality trait that causes problems for a character. Mary Sues don't have problems, so they have no real flaws. On the other hand, if you want readers to like your character, her personality shouldn't solely consist of flaws. A good character should be a mix of positive and negative traits.

Respect: Something your character should earn, rather than receiving it on a silver platter.

Character development: How a character changes over the course of the story. Starting off special and becoming even more special does not count.

Straw feminist: A very bad thing to be. Take a long, hard look at every female character in PotC. Do they go around proclaiming how superior they are to men all the time? No! They don't need to, and neither does your character.

Feisty and bitchy: Are not synonyms. "Feisty" is actually kind of a backhanded compliment.

Specialness: Not a substitute for personality.

 _We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. Here are some questions to help you develop your character_ _'s personality._

What does your character want more than anything else in the world right now, and why?

Does she prefer interacting with others or being by herself?

What is her greatest fear?

Would you want someone to treat you or your friends the way she treats other people?

What does she like to do in her spare time?

What does she hate to do? What irritates her?

How does she cheer herself up when she's feeling sad?

What could she talk about for hours, given the chance? What topics bore her?

What is she good at? What is she bad at?

If she could have any job she wanted, what would it be? Why does she want that particular job?

What does she think about when she's alone, other than her angsty past or her love interest?

How does she react to being insulted?

What does she not want other people to know about her?

Who would want to spend time with her, and why?

What is her favorite place to be?

If you want to learn more about how to develop your character's personality, the website Springhole has an answer for just about any writing question you could possibly have. I _highly_ recommend it!


	5. Canon Characters and Plots

A few notes on certain canon characters (and storylines):

 **1\. Captain Jack Sparrow's one true love is the _Black Pearl_.**

He is not going to fall in love with your OC. Sorry.

(He's also 38 at the time of the first movie. And he has syphilis.)

I'm quite sure Jack would be happy to have a one-night stand with your OC, though.

 **2\. Will Turner's one true love is Elizabeth Swann.**

He is not going to fall in love with your OC, either. Sorry.

And no, you are not allowed to kill off or otherwise get rid of Elizabeth in order to make room for a Will/OC romance. That's just lazy and stupid, and it will be immediately obvious to everyone what you've done. (Besides, if you did that, what would happen to Henry?)

 **3\. Commodore James Norrington, however, is available.**

He could possibly fall in love with your OC. But for the love of Calypso, _please_ keep him in character.

 **4\. Character-bashing sucks.**

Think of your least favorite PotC character. Now think of your favorite PotC character. How would you feel if you read a fanfic where your favorite character was demonized, or insulted and humiliated by the author's OC at every turn? Pretty bad, right?

Chances are, someone feels about your least favorite character the way you feel about your favorite character. So please try to treat all the canon characters with respect, no matter how much you personally like or dislike them. People want to be entertained when they read stories, not upset and enraged.

 **5\. Don't write what is basically a recap of the movies with your OC inserted into every scene.**

If we wanted the movies, we'd watch the movies. I guarantee that the addition of your OC will not improve them. If you're writing a multi-chapter story, I suggest setting it before, between, or after the movies.


End file.
